Five years after the spill: BP still leaking

April 2108:372015

BP faced a major crisis exactly five years ago. Today, the oil giant is still facing a crisis – just a different one. On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig blew up – causing an oil spill to pollute the Gulf of Mexico for 87 days until being partially stopped. The spill is still considered the biggest oceanic oil spill and a national catastrophe.

Five years later – the company is facing its own set of issues. But this time it’s the plunging price of oil that’s creating a huge set of challenges for the company. British Petroleum sunk to a loss during the fourth quarter of 2014 – reporting a net loss of $4.4 billion during the period. The collapsing price of oil is the big culprit. That’s seen in large part by the 21% drop off of the company’s revenue to $73.9 billion during the fourth quarter. That’s the first time the company lost money since the second quarter of 2012.

The falling price of oil has been a large factor in why the company hasn’t been able to get its mojo back – even after all these years. Shares of the ADR that tracks the stock’s London-listed shares are still down 27% from where they were before the 2010 disaster. Deaths, resignations, penalties, fines and criminal charges were all setbacks for the company. And it appears, it still hasn’t recovered.